There are two main reasons for avoiding attached documents.
--- Attachment problems and dangers
1) Not all people are equipped to open all files. This means that many
attachments can't be read at all, not even when you send them from one
person to another.
2) The use of attached files has become the primary method by which viruses
spread among computers.
Despite the occasional hoaxes that go around ("Good Times," "Panama Red,"
etc.), viruses can't be spread in the form of ascii (plain text) in email
documents.
Viruses are spread when people open documents or files containing virus
code. Opening the file activates whatever code it contains. This is how we
activate the useful program code that enables us to operate MS Word or
Adobe Illustrator. This is also how we activate files containing viral
code: the virus is then able to perform whatever actions it has been
programmed to do.
--- Attachment hygiene
Many organizations have a firm rule that attached files should only be
opened under strict conditions. Such conditions tend to be that:
1) The sender is personally known to the receiver.
2) The sender operates a trusted and secure system.
3) The attached message specifically involves the organization and its
work.
Even organizations that don't maintain strict rules encourage these
principles.
I *never* open an attachment unless:
1) I know the sender personally.
2) The sender operates a trusted and secure system.
3) The attachment is accompanied by an email post explaining document
contents.
--- Case history of a mild virus (1 in 6 years)
In the 6 years I have been using internet, following this rule has meant
that I have been troubled by virus incursions only once. It's an
appropriate case history here. The document came from someone at a
technical school sending out conference material to a large list.
Although I didn't know him personally, I made the mistaken judgement that
as a faculty member of a technical school, he would have run proper
security procedures. He hadn't done so. The result was a mild inflammation
of the macros. (I don't mean to sound more tech savvy than I am. I am not
entirely clear what macros are -- I simply know that the macros were
affected because our IT staff told me so while cleaning my infected
computer.)
We traced the virus to his attachments and notified him. It was rather like
explaining to someone that he may be a vector in disease transmision. He
became a bit huffy and said, "It can't be my computer." My guess is that he
hadn't noticed the problem on his system, and that didn't understand the
nature of such a problem or how to solve.
--- Plain text is always safe
It's always safe to send documents in ascii (plain text) in the body of an
email post. You can't communicate -- or catch -- viruses this way.
-- Caution always best in using reply function.
The same digest of Mg-Ed-Dv that warned me about the infected
file carried with it a working copy of the Pretty Park Exe file.
It was apparently carried with a forwarded copy of the correspondence.
This is an additional reason for care in simply passing notes
along by using the forward mechanism. The other is tedium --
even without the virus, there was no need to read Marina
Onken's original post three times and Conna Conden's complete
post twice !
It's usually best to edit and quote selectively in corresponding to a
discussion group. Most messages are useful the first time. But once
from the original author is enough. Messages lose their allure the second
and third time out when rebroadcast through the indiscriminate use
of reply function and forwarding to large lists.
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management
+47 22.98.51.07 Direct line
+47 22.98.51.11 Telefax
Home office:
+46 (46) 53.245 Telephone
+46 (46) 53.345 Telefax
email:
ken.friedman@bi.no